Don't answer that title with "junkyard", please! A 40 year old beater that's still streetable deserves a bit more than that.

My latest acquisition, bought on a whim after my oldest brother sent me a joke email about "a real Volvo". I think it has some potential but I'm not sure what. Maybe just take the letters off the nose and give it a decent paint job?

It's not rotted, bent up or close to death. (It's not even home yet, as it didn't have wipers, the headlights didn't work, and it's now waiting on carburetor jets for the twin SU's so it can run as smooth at interstate speeds as it idles).

Just wanted to see what ideas anyone cares to try out. Thanks!

(The PNG file attached is kinda big in bytes, but it's the same 800x601 image size as the JPG. It has all the parts chopped off the body and the dumb spray-bomb gray smudged out. It's just the body).

My suggestion for customization would not be in the genre of audience interactive mixed media, as it is typically a conflict of interest for a grouch such as yourself to interact with people and yet still attempt to draw them near you...

So this would not work...

But you do seem to have a plethora of parts that could be fixed upon the skin of the bolvo and create a stand alone statement of resourcefulness, ingenuity and function that is your signature state of being...

Bwahaha! I get my revenge for your torturing of my eyes with those vehicles(?) and torturing my mind with suggesting I do that to the old Volvo.

It's a Latin word (just absconded by a svede for the car). I've seen it defined as "I roll" all over the Internet, including wikipedia and lots of car sites, but that's always seemed slightly misplaced -- cars don't usually say "I". I don't know Latin so I had to go searching.

If
we assume a primitive gwal, qwal, v. t. q. signifying to turn,
roll, &c., it is easy to conceive how it might on one side
become the parent of the Welsh chwylaw, to revolve; Sanscr.
hval, to turn; A.-S. hweol, wheel; O.-Germ. hwel, crooked;
Slavou. kolo* a wheel, kolievali, to agitate; and on the other,
of Slavon. valili, Germ. wcilzen, Lat. volvere, to roll; with
many similar words in most European languages.
[...]
makes it at all events probable that they are in reality collateral
formations, and that they, together with their cognate
[...] have a common origin with the Latin volvo, and the Welsh
chwylaw, i. e. a root gwal or qwal, or something similar.

So, let's start with the Latin root "volvo." The first definition of "volvo" for the ancient Romans was "modern Swedish car." Oops. Getting ahead of myself here. Let's start again.

The real first definition is "to cause to travel in a circular course, orbit, etc." It can also mean "to gather up by rolling" or "to impel forward in a rotary motion." The Latin root volvo, then, has to do with rolling or turning.

Looks familiar, eh? So you have the symbol for iron on the grille, surrounding the word Volvo => Iron Rolling, or Rolling Iron. IMO, that fits better than "I roll" even if it may not be as widely stated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerrodsmike

My suggestion for customization would not be in the genre of audience interactive mixed media, as it is typically a conflict of interest for a grouch such as yourself to interact with people and yet still attempt to draw them near you...

Does this mean I have to give up luring travelling vinyl siding salesmen into my freezer? Ok, they're not as lean and tender as they used to be. Venison is probably healthier food anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerrodsmike

So this would not work...

Argh! Anything you do to a crackerbox van has to improve interest, but this Amazon isn't even a brick! It's got curves instead of slabs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerrodsmike

But you do seem to have a plethora of parts that could be fixed upon the skin of the bolvo and create a stand alone statement of resourcefulness, ingenuity and function that is your signature state of being...

So hodgepodge mosaic would be my try..

Man, you have a mean streak. I see wheels, headlights and windows under there, so it may have started out as a car!

Somehow that reminds me of a Beetle I saw on tv years ago. It was covered with lights that went on and off in waves over the car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerrodsmike

Hope this helps, Mikey

Oh, yeah, I'm scared to even try to sleep now. I can foresee nightmares of CameraVans spying on me and giving me flash burns to match those of a welder while AutoObscuras blast me with Blues Brothers' sized PA systems.

Thanks for the paranoid insomnia, Mikey!

(I'm still laughing over the AutoObscura. It's art, but I don't think it's a hotrod).

Some people have stuffed late model Chevy V-6s in those old Amazons. I think I'll just try to get the original 4 banger up to snuff - it already has a HP/lbs ratio the same as a '95 V6 Camaro. It needs lowering a couple of inches, decent seats, paint and losing the "Volvo" on the nose. Not sure what else, yet. The steering wheel feels huge.

(BTW, I just went through some kind of an Internet time-warp. For some reason I couldn't preview the post, then suddenly everything, and I mean everything, came up in both my browser and email client showing stuff from over a year ago. I just closed both, reconnected to my ISP and dug things out of the caches).

No doubt what I would do. I would do the 50's style leadslead custom grille, F & R frenched lights but find some cool ones for the back. Mono-tone single bright color without metallic.
All this is cheap stuff to do. Leave the drivetrain alone unless it is too slow for traffic today.

I've been buying/selling old cars for 40 years to supplement my income. So, I've driven tons of cool cars around while they are for sale. My little daily VW wagon in my Gallery gets tons more comments, stares, & pointing at than ANY other thing I have EVER driven. That includes tri-5 chevys, rods, classics, etc.

Yeah, malc, I didn't even notice that one before. I like it! Hope it has the ability to rise up a bit on the road, though. Doesn't look like it would steer as it sits in that photo.

Job~Rated: Those are some good-looking treatments. I like the frenched headlights (lets me see what F&J suggested) and the '57 Buick-like side trim. The painted bumper on the last one looks 'right', too, but then that one has just a few chrome accents. The wrap-around rear bumper on the green and black one looks cool but the rear deck is stretched for it. (Can't tell if the first two are stretched). Thanks! I'll have to point a few interested folks to those. (Also known as, 'pester family and friends').

The amount of chrome I leave on it may depend on how it cleans up and how much rust I find under it.

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